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Port Coquitlam teen driven to death by cyberbullying (with video)

Her legacy is an online video in which she documents her personal hell

A
Vancouver area teen who told a heart-breaking story in a YouTube video
of cyberbullying that led to an all-out schoolyard attack has apparently
committed suicide. In stories and posts flooding Vancouver's social
media networks, #RIPAmanda is trending as people post news and
condolences for the teen identified as posting the video, Amanda Todd.
Video courtesy: Skybrite, ebaumsworld.com

The
mother of a teenager who died Wednesday of suspected suicide wants her
daughter’s anti-cyber-bullying video to be used to help other young
people.

Fifteen-year-old Amanda Todd was found dead in a Port
Coquitlam home at 6 p.m. Wednesday, five weeks after she posted a
heartbreaking video on YouTube detailing how she was harassed online and
bullied.

“I think the video should be shared and used as an
anti-bullying tool. That is what my daughter would have wanted,” Carol
Todd, Amanda’s mother, told The Vancouver Sun in a message on Twitter.

In
it Amanda does not speak, but instead holds up to the camera pieces of
paper on which she has printed her story, one phrase at a time. She
documents a painful tale of being harassed through Facebook and shunned
at school, leaving her feeling alone and suicidal.

It started in
Grade 8, when an embarrassing photo was circulated to her relatives,
friends and schoolmates. Amanda switched schools, but the bullying
continued.

“I can never get that photo back,” she writes.

Later,
she was confronted by a group of teens in front of her new school and
beaten up, an attack that was filmed. Despondent, Amanda went home and
drank bleach.

Her harassers posted photos of bleach and commented that they wished she was dead.

Near the end of the video, she writes: “Every day I think why am I still here? ... I have nobody. I need someone.”

In
a message accompanying the video post, Amanda added: “I’m not doing
this (video) for attention. I’m doing this to be an inspiration and to
show that I can be strong.”

Premier Christy Clark posted a short video on YouTube Thursday sending her sympathies to Amanda’s family.

“I
want to say to everyone who loved her, to all her family and friends,
how sorry I am about her loss,” Clark — who spearheaded a ‘Pink Shirt
Day’ anti-bullying campaign while she was a radio host — says in the
video.

“No one deserves to be bullied. No one earns it. No one asks for it. It isn’t a rite of passage.

“Bullying has to stop.”

In
2008, the B.C. government declared an annual anti-bullying day, and
Clark has advanced anti-bullying initiatives since becoming premier.

Amanda
was a former cheerleader with the Vancouver All Stars squad based in
her hometown of Port Coquitlam. She attended school there until the
middle of Grade 8, when she moved to a Maple Ridge school. In February,
she transferred to Coquitlam Alternate Basic Education (CABE) in
Coquitlam.

Students and staff at Amanda’s school were grieving her death Thursday.

“It is a very sad case,” said Paul McNaughton, principal of CABE, where Amanda was in Grade 10.

“She
was quite connected here. The staff and the students here are very much
impacted. She had some very strong ties in the school and to staff in
the school.

“I can tell you we feel we tried everything we could to help her when she came to us.”

In her video, Amanda says she moved schools in a futile attempt to escape her bullies.

Spokeswomen
for the Maple Ridge and Coquitlam school districts would not discuss
the case directly, but both said their districts take action when they
receive bullying complaints.

Grief counsellors were speaking to students in both districts Thursday.

Dr.
Tyler Black, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at B.C. Children’s
Hospital, said the reasons people commit suicide are often very complex.
He urged parents, educators and youth at risk of suicide to realize
there is help through options such as www.youthinbc.com or
1-800-SUICIDE.

“The message is there are professionals there, there are people out there who can help.”

On a positive note, Black added, suicide among youth aged 10 to 24 dropped 25 per cent from 2000 to 2009.

Amanda joined YouTube on Sept. 6 and posted her video Sept. 7.

On
Sept. 7, Amanda also uploaded a slide-show presentation called Cyber
Bullying on Prezi.com, in which she gives advice on how to deal with
such harassment.

In what could turn out to be her own very sad legacy, Amanda urged people to stand up to bullies and help victims:

“If
you see that someone is being bullied, don’t be afraid to tell the
bully to stop doing what they are doing. Make sure to tell them that
it’s wrong and that they shouldn’t bully other kids.”

Amanda told parents “to always give your child emotional support” and to help them if they are being bullied.

B.C.’s
education ministry announced last month that it will spend $2 million
on a strategy called ERASE Bullying. The strategy includes a
confidential online bullying reporting service that will allow students,
school staff, parents and members of the public to make anonymous
reports about potential or actual cases of school bullying and violence.

The Amanda Michelle Todd memorial Facebook page, created
Wednesday morning, had more than 11,000 people “liking it” by early
evening. Hundreds of people were also posting comments on the site.

“My
thoughts and prayers go to her family, I cannot even begin to imagine
what they are going through. High school is supposed to be the best time
of your life, not one where you fear for yourself every day. No one
should have to feel the way she did,” wrote Breanna Lockhart Collins.
“She was a beautiful young girl who went way too soon.”

In a post on its Facebook page, G Force Gym — home of the Vancouver All Stars cheerleaders — wrote:

“Today
we feel the loss of our former VAS family member Amanda ... I ask that
we all watch her video and share her story so that her loss is not in
vain. Allow this to be her legacy ... Allow us all to look around &
find the next Amanda before another precious spunky teenager is lost.”

Amanda’s
video echoed another similar online story entitled My Story: Suicide
and Bullying, which had been uploaded by Mollydoyle18 on YouTube.
Commenting on Amanda’s video, Molly posted Wednesday:

“Rest in
peace and fly high to Amanda Todd. I was just messaging her about almost
a week ago, and I just found out that she has taken her life. She was
asking me about how to be an inspiration to others and to get her video
more views, and now I have found out that she has passed away ... This
is a terrible tragedy. I wish she could have had her happy ending.

This is sad. My question is, where the fuck are the parents? Do people really just let their teens and Tweens on the Internet with no supervision? Why was she flashing people online to begin with? Why was she allowed to keep a Facebook page that others obviously used to harass her? Why was she texting boys about hooking up? This whole thing is fucking wrong.

Her parents didn't do enough. Once the police knocked in her door, exposing her for the topless photos, she should have NEVER had access to the Internet, without an adult present again. No more Facebook, nothing. If her parents would have protected her, banned Facebook, then she wouldn't have been found online over and over.

Also, was it ever found out who the stalker guy was and did anything happen to him?

I JUST posted the same thing. It blows my mind what parents allow their kids to get away with. Had these parents been actual parents, their kid would probably still be alive.

Quoting wymama610:

This is sad. My question is, where the fuck are the parents? Do people really just let their teens and Tweens on the Internet with no supervision? Why was she flashing people online to begin with? Why was she allowed to keep a Facebook page that others obviously used to harass her? Why was she texting boys about hooking up? This whole thing is fucking wrong.

wtf this is so sad. The part that makes me cry is I bet these children who caused this feel no guilt and the parents that raised them feel no shame.

If I had one wish I would wish for this pretty girl to haunt their dreams forever. Not to gain revenge, but to cause regret, sympathy, and turn them into fucking humans. To prevent another little girl, or grown woman, teenage boy or man from having to be the one in their dreams after they did the same to them.

People who have never been alone just have no fucking clue. If you don't like her why consume your life with her ? move on! If you ask me the kids that caused this are the ones who are not well adjusted, need therapy, are simply not right in the head. They obsess over boob pictures and things that don't even involve them. They physically attack people. They are sick. someone should help them.

I am sick of all the "friends" that come out of the wood work after the fact.

Quoting shannonnigans:

I'm so sick of reading stories like this (in the sense that it sickens me, not that they bore me, obviously). I'm sick of schools saying they did everything they could, I'm sick of politicians proclaiming "anti-bullying day" as if that does a damned thing, I'm sick of psychologists coming out with psychobabble and meaningless answers like "the reasons behind teen suicide are very complex", and I'm really sick of not placing the blame and liability where it belongs - the bullies' parents. An oversimplification? If I had bullied someone growing up, I can guarantee you, right or wrong, my parents would have physically beaten me senseless, before putting me out on the streets. Maybe I'm so enraged right now that I'm not being logical, but I AGREE with their approach.

Lack of accountability. Apparently it is easier to just let your kid go online, text, and do their own thing. Even this girl apparently was a glutton for punishment. Why was she continually going on Facebook? Even this video she made shows no one ever cared what she put out there, including herself. At 15, kids are not always mature enough to handle the consequences of their actions. Their parents should damn well know better though.

Quoting Paperfishies:

I JUST posted the same thing. It blows my mind what parents allow their kids to get away with. Had these parents been actual parents, their kid would probably still be alive.

Quoting wymama610:

This is sad. My question is, where the fuck are the parents? Do people really just let their teens and Tweens on the Internet with no supervision? Why was she flashing people online to begin with? Why was she allowed to keep a Facebook page that others obviously used to harass her? Why was she texting boys about hooking up? This whole thing is fucking wrong.

Yeah, we definitely do. I have no idea why it went as far as it did. Maybe no one reported the page? Didn't know how old she was? Idk. I would like to know why more wasn't done and why it still isn't done. This story has so many issues, not even just the bullying...

Quoting SuperChicken:

Does Canada have child pornography laws? Surely posting pictures of a 12/13 year old child's breasts as your Facebook picture is distribution of child porn?

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